The Surprising Factor That Affects Your Shopping Habits

The more you know: Your reasoning for returning a purchase is probably pretty simple: Perhaps it didn't fit or you didn't like the material. But as it turns out, there's a psychology behind your decision that you've most likely never thought about. New York magazine came across a new study published in the Journal of Retailing that explains how a store's return policy may have a bigger effect on you than you realize. "Interestingly," the magazine explains, "the terms of the policy make a difference, in one surprising way in particular: The longer a store allows its customers to return something after purchasing, the less likely they are to ever actually return it." The underlying idea is that when there's a deadline for the return policy, you are more likely to act on it faster. "Researchers explain this finding with the construal level theory, the idea that when something feels far off—either in time or physical distance—it becomes more abstract in your mind." Makes sense, right? [New York magazine]